Football transfer rumours: Barça's Ousmane Dembélé to Arsenal?

The whispers have gone into overdrive and José Mourinho possibly into meltdown. The Manchester United manager is veering on inconsolable, deeply concerned at the lack of incomings and, unless Ed Woodward can pull a few rabbits out of the hat, the Portuguese could slump into his biggest and gloomiest huff yet. United are still keen on adding a defender, and Harry Maguire has his heart set on a move to Old Trafford but, after already swallowing two bids, Leicester City are refusing to even pick up the phone. Jérôme Boateng has turned his nose up at a move, favouring a £40.5m permanent switch to Paris Saint-Germain instead, while Toby Alderweireld is another face Mourinho longs to see waltz into Carrington.

Down at Arsenal there is little panic at all, though they are considering a late move for the ponytailed Croatia defender Domagoj Vida, with Besiktas happy to flog him for around £26m. Unai Emery knows Stan Kroenke’s cash could be better spent, and fancies a loan move for Ousmane Dembélé, Barcelona’s World Cup winner, until May. Reports in Spain suggest an initial £10m loan fee could lure the Catalan club into getting the deal done, followed by a £90m transfer, if all went swimmingly.

Across north London Tottenham have not given up hope of landing Jack Grealish but have plenty of work to do if they are to convince Aston Villa’s stubborn owners into giving any move the green light, having already rejected a £25m bid. At Chelsea there could be a deadline-day move for Danny Drinkwater, with West Ham and Crystal Palace, plus his old club Leicester, sniffing around.

The Wolves revolution continues and that’s before they’ve got their hands on Layvin Kurzawa and Oleksandr Zinchenko. Everton are also on the hunt for a new left-back, as Marco Silva looks set to complete half a Barcelona XI, with André Gomes and Yerry Mina on his longlist after snapping up Lucas Digne, while Kurt Zouma, the towering France defender, is another option.

Elsewhere Islam Slimani could be heading to any one of Fenerbahce, Besiktas or his former employers Sporting Lisbon, providing Leicester pick up £18m for their man and after moving on to bigger and better things, Brighton are happy to cash in on 2016-17’s Tomer Hemed, with the Israeli striker primed for a move to QPR.

And, this is cruel: at the 11th hour, Villa have been upstaged by Fulham. After failing to coerce Southampton into selling Matty Targett, the Premier League side made their advances on Joe Bryan, snatching the Bristol City defender from under the nose of Steve Bruce late on Wednesday night. Bryan, also the subject of interest from Newcastle, had already agreed a medical and personal terms at Villa but is set to complete a £5m deadline-day move to Fulham, and a spiffing window for Slavisa Jokanovic’s side.